Reasons why I love Ayu

[jang-kun]

20 Reasons Why I Love Ayumi Hamasaki

1. Ayu was born to a family no different from us. Even though she's an only child, she lived a hard life before her rose to super stardom.
2. Ayu is a high school drop out... who never gave up despite the fact that she lacks proper education. Now, she even earned enough, perhaps a million times an engineer can earn in his lifetime.
3. Ayu is never proud of her status. She's one of the humblest person on earth despite being the richest celebrity in Asia.
4. Ayu pawns singers without being harsh. How? Just look at her discography and how many artists she beat into a pulp... on the charts.
5. Ayu cries genuinely. Or perhaps, they are just sweat? Watch her tours if you wanna know.
6. Speaking of her tours, Ayu's concerts are always the best there are. Using a floating ship, a simulated elevator, 360 degree rotating stages, huge moving screens, extravagant costumes, enormous props, and a dozen of firecrackers every now and then, an Ayu concert is just the thing Madonna would need to be back on track again. Mostly, Ayu's heartfelt emotions will forever resonate not only inside her stadium, but in the hearts of her fans as well.
7. Ayu keeps on reinventing herself. She never sticks on the same cutesy or pop rock image forever. When Ayu's being all poppish today, she'll be a gothic saint tomorrow. That's for sure.
8. Ayu writes her own lyrics, that's the key behind her success. Her emotions are all written into words, which she is able to transcend to her fans through her voice.
9. Ayu is one of the few artists in the world who can control her own career. From the tiniest details such as the fonts that will be used on the covers of her album to shooting locations for music videos, all of that must have Ayumi Hamasaki's "Okay." before her staff, even her label, do something.
10. Ayu's very first best album, A BEST, is one of the most legendary albums in modern history. It is the second fastest selling album to be ever released, and it sold a staggering 2.8 million copies in its first week.
11. Ayu is the ultimate persona in the Japanese music scene. Despite being a solo artist, she managed to outsell famous groups and even ranked 3rd on the best selling artists in Japan, preceded by both groups on the 1st and 2nd places.
12. Ayumi Hamasaki's voice is ever-changing. You can have four different singers from Ayu's voice since 1998 up to 2012.
13. Ayu's off-cam shot are always flawless.
14. Ayu's music videos are among the world's most expensive. Five from her PVs: fairyland, my name's WOMEN, Jewel, GREEN, & Virgin Road have made it on the list - the only non-American to do so.
15. Ayu's music videos in general are ALWAYS bizarre and will leave you thinking. They are always of top produce and have high budget on them.
16. Ayu composed her own music during certain points in her career. For example, her mammoth album I am... is self-composed. All the tracks are uniquely arranged and they once changed the entire landscape of the Japanese music scene.
17. Ayu is very professional. Many bad things have happened to her, but she dealt all of them with such professionalism that you wouldn't believe this singer is a high school drop out.
18. Ayu keeps on singing even though she's deaf on one ear. As a singer, hearing is a very important asset, but Ayu having none on her left ear is not enough to take this megastar down. Instead, she promised that she will continue to sing no matter what happen.
19. Ayu cares for her fans. Words are not enough to thank her, for her music, for her very aspect of being a person, and for her being there to sing for us. She's not our idol or anything, and we are not her fan. I can say that whenever I listen to Ayu, she's reaching out my hand just like a friend in need. Ayu's music have helped me through so much in my life. Without her and her music, a part of me will certainly die.
20. Lastly, Ayumi Hamasaki is the eternal Empress of Pop. No one will ever, or could ever, replace her. I say that not as a fan, but as a person who value good music. Open your ears to Ayu. You will never regret it.


I'm tearing right now, tbh.

[channy]

I like how her voice perfectly fits to trance remixes and electronical music genres in general.

[Delirium-Zer0]

Oh man, where to start...

I'd like to put together a big huge list of all the reasons I love Ayu, but honestly, the list of reasons why I SHOULDN'T like her are longer. Her big-eyed duck face pictures, those atrocious creepy contacts, her tendency to stick with wavy blond hair when straight dark hair looks so much better, her squeaky voice and/or overdone vibrato, her graphic designers usually being incompetent, her tours being lipsynced and showy and dancey when I prefer the times when she's just up there singing and moving naturally.

In so many ways, Ayu is the embodiment of everything I usually HATE in a pop star.

Sure, I love aspects of ayu's image and style, but I haven't loved an ayu "look" since about 2001, tbh. I can't put that as one of the reasons I like her. Her princessy style just isn't accessible enough to me anymore. I love the princess dresses but I miss when she did things like the foxtail and camo and leopard print and tiny little pins, because they were quirky and distinctive and easy for us regular ol' people to copy. That stuff REALLY reeled me in back in the day. Far more than the sparkly deco and designer handbags EVER could have. I worry that Ayu is very very out of touch with her fanbase these days.

But... she's AYU. She's special, she's different. She's a person, no matter how much makeup she puts on. She moves like herself no matter how choreographed she is. She picks all her own clothes even when she doesn't design them herself. She tours on a sprained ankle, sings with a deaf ear, and dances with a broken hand. She pulled herself up by her bootstraps and somehow did this without compromising & kissing butt. She sets herself apart from everyone else EVEN WHEN SHE'S NOT TRYING. Her imprint is left on EVERYTHING she does.

And then there's the lyrics. Sure, sometimes she writes in cliches, and from 2005 to 2009, her songs pretty much all had the same message and same ideas. But then she came back, and I fell in love with her all over again. Ayu has so many songs I relate to. I cry when I listen to songs like "A Song for XX", "TO BE", "Naturally", "Don't look back", "reminds me", and "Letter" because they're MY songs. I feel like Ayu gets me when I hear songs like those. I don't know Japanese well enough to understand every lyric to every song but when I find one I do understand, I learn it and I own it and eventually I know it like the back of my hand. Because they may as well be pages out of the book of my life.

[ImpactBreaker]

Because she's one of the very first few (or maybe the only) artists in which I don't really hate or ignore a couple of songs in the album and which I don't just aim for the singles because she never has filler songs for my tastes. I don't know if it's her vocals or whatever...It's hard to explain. Even at times I have grown weary of her, I was able to later catch up on the albums I wasn't to eager and got to enjoy everything. There are amny artists that I really love and think they're fantadstic but they still don't manage to catch up for that to me.

[PoetGirl]

Because she's the queen. There is no pop artist who give more than her. She's the only artist I will come back too, other artists usually just keep on releasing bad albums after couple of good. She didnt make a bad album imo. Her music keeps me sane.

[A-TeensFan]

good god, this thread makes me cry (
I agree with Delirium-Zero. The reason I love her so much is that though I don't know much Japanese, her music still speaks to me. I mean even when I don't read the translation I still somehow get what her songs are about. Some of her songs are just like my exact feelings at some point of my life and when I listem to them I am taken back to those moments. Her music helps me a lot, i grow up with her songs. I love her so much and i will forever.

[attractive nausea]

I love Ayu because she's the one who turned all the hate i was keeping inside of me into love, lol it may sound stupid but that's the truth. She saved my life. And I love the way i can relate to (almost?) all of her songs, i see her as the one who can express what i somehow can't express myself, i love how she can be optimistic and happy but i'm a sucker for dark songs such as count down as well because i'm kinda like that too... There are so many reasons why i love her. And I am so proud of her being the Queen of J-pop, best selling solo artist in Japan etc.. I kinda wish i knew her during her peak, but i prefer her recent music though (doesn't mean i don't like her old stuff). Yeah, i'm really proud of her and what she has done, she really works hard, we, ayu fans, have the luck of getting at least one new album every year while it's not really the same with western artists...

[love in music]

Simple answer, but she has just been in my life these past years making my sad moments happy and my happy moments happier with not only her music but her beautiful, kind, selfless personality. Nobody will ever replace her and I will never feel as close to an artist as I do with her.

[Kazeyomi]

There are many reasons why I love her. But mostly are the same said by all of you guys.

Nobody caught my attention like her. Her music, lyrics, style are one of a kind. I freaking love other j-pop divas like Hikki and Namie, but she will forever be The Queen for me.

[queenbee]

She is my favorite singer, all times, she is something new, something better that everyone in the world should listen to, i think the world would be better if more people listened to Ayu!

[Mimichild]

So much love for this thread

I agree with everything that was said here but I would like to add that the main reason why I love and respect Ayu is because she helped me accept myself through her lyrics and image. I grew up in a world where the conventional looks/ideas/norms meant you were somebody. However, I listened to Ayu's music and saw how she looked and was amazed at her uniqueness. And seeing how so many people around the world called her beautiful and wanted to be like her gave me hope for myself. And if I got to meet her, I would personally thank her for that.

[jang-kun]

Originally Posted by Mimichild

So much love for this thread

I agree with everything that was said here but I would like to add that the main reason why I love and respect Ayu is because she helped me accept myself through her lyrics and image. I grew up in a world where the conventional looks/ideas/norms meant you were somebody. However, I listened to Ayu's music and saw how she looked and was amazed at her uniqueness. And seeing how so many people around the world called her beautiful and wanted to be like her gave me hope for myself. And if I got to meet her, I would personally thank her for that.

That's the first thing I would do too.